The Audubon Societies 



65 



birds — Robins nesting on the window- 

 sill, Catbirds in the shrubbery, a Blue Jay 

 family by the kitchen roof, and various 

 others. 



For the present, charges as follows will 



be made for the use of these films: $5 for 

 one reel, and $3 for each additional reel. 

 Transport charges are borne by the 

 receiver. Four or five reels make a good 

 evening's entertainment. 



THE EDUCATION OF A ROBIN 



By MARIE KUGLER 



During a severe storm, early in May, a 

 Robin's nest in our yard was blown down, 

 and, when found, only one of the young 

 birds was alive. His bare little body was 

 stiff with cold, but after being wrapped in 

 cotton and kept near the fire a while, he 

 revived enough to swallow food. For 

 several weeks he was a very dependent 

 little fellow, but later on developed 

 decided opinions. As soon as he was old 

 and strong enough to fly well he was 

 turned out of doors, and we supposed 

 that after a day or two he would mingle 

 with the other feathered folk; but not so. 

 He would fly about until tired out, then 

 come to the door and beg to get in, and 

 even as late as the last of August he would 

 come to the back porch for food and 

 water. 



As he had been brought up by hand, he 

 did not know how to find food for him- 

 self. He would sit and scream at sight of 

 a worm or berry, expecting it to drop into 

 his wide-open mouth, but would make no 

 effort to pick it up; so we had to teach 

 him to hunt for food out-of-doors. We 

 taught him to pick currants from the 

 bushes by holding him under the clusters 

 so that they just touched his bill, and it 

 wasn't long before he realized that it 

 takes 'pull' to get things in this world. He 

 soon became expert at it, and in a few 

 days we had the pleasure of watching him 

 make profitable round-trips from fence to 

 bush with never an instant's pause. 



After a few trips to the garden, where 

 we dug worms for him, he learned to look 

 for them on the ground, and later on we 

 were almost sure to get an answer from 

 him in the corn-rows whenever we called 

 his name, and, until quite late in the sum- 

 mer, he would answer and come to us 

 from the trees when we were in the yard. 



He would ride round on our shoulders but 

 his favorite perch was on someone's head. 

 He loved to bathe and made his wants 

 known plainly by going to his drinking- 

 cup and fluttering his wings violently. 

 After his bath he would fly to the round of 

 a certain chair to preen himself. Since he 

 had no family to associate with, it took 

 several hard-fought battles to establish 

 himself in bird society; but by the end 

 of the summer he seemed to be on good 

 terms with the other Robins in the neigh- 



THE PET ROBIN GETS A WORM FROM 

 ITS FRIEND, MISS MARIE KUGLER 



borhood. I had read of the 'whisper 

 songs' of birds, but had never heard one 

 until this bird began to sing. Evening 

 after evening he would croon the dearest 

 little twittering songs to himself, as if 

 putting himself to sleep with a lullaby. We 

 took several good pictures of him, but the 

 accompanying one is his best; it shows him 

 at meal-time, very much interested in 

 the menu. 



We are wondering whether he will come 

 back to us next summer. We have marked 

 his foot so that we may recognize him. 



